History of City of Monash - From Parish To City

From Parish To City

Southern NSW (now State of Victoria) had settlements at Port Phillip in the centre, Portland to the west and Gippsland to the east. Settlers first settled at Port Phillip District (Melbourne) and had sailed along the east coast and settled along the shore lines. A shipping service between Gippsland and Melbourne was created, but it soon became obvious that a road service was required to link the settlements over land. In 1851, the State of Victoria was established and the construction of a road linking St Kilda to Dandenong was approved - Princes Highway/Dandenong Rd. On completion, the route passed through the south-west corner of the Parish of Oakleigh/Mulgrave where the village of Oakleigh was located. Shortly following, a telegraph line was built and in 1865, Cobb and Co coaches began operating as a transportation service. These coaches made a one-stop journey back and forth, the stop at Oakleigh Village.

On 19 January 1857, the Parish of Mulgrave and Oakleigh were gazetted as the Road District of Mulgrave and Oakleigh respectively. These two road districts later merged as the Shire of Oakleigh on 1 December 1871. On 13 March 1891, the Shire of Oakleigh split when the south and centre ridings formed the Borough of Oakleigh, renaming the rest as the Shire of Mulgrave.

In 1949 and again in 1959, land was ‘transferred’ from Mulgrave to Oakleigh. The size of the Shire of Mulgrave now was reduced to 23 square miles (60 km2). The Shire of Mulgrave and Borough of Oakleigh progressed through World War One, the Great Depression and World War Two. New Shire offices were later opened at Notting Hill. In April 1961, the Shire of Mulgrave was gazetted as the City of Waverley, the name taken from Dr James Silverman’s property- Township of Waverley. At the same time, the Borough of Oakleigh formed the City of Oakleigh. Finally, on 15 December 1994, the City of Waverley and most of the City of Oakleigh merged back as The City Of Monash.